Kevin, out of genuine curiosity, why are you estimating anything when the population numbers are readily available? In fact, there is a thread just beneath this one with all kinds of stats with rankings, a dicussion, and everything.

Kevin, out of genuine curiosity, why are you estimating anything when the population numbers are readily available? In fact, there is a thread just beneath this one with all kinds of stats with rankings, a dicussion, and everything.

Good point. I actually made my list before I came on the forum... I don't visit these forums as much as I used to. Thanks for info, I corrected the list.

fflint, thanks!

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Syracuse, New York - Nestled between the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes.
CSA ~ 735,000
MSA ~ 650,000

Phoenix and Tucson are filling in the space between them "with all deliberate speed".

There's also a megalopolis growing in Central Florida incorporating Orlando, Daytona and the "Space Coast", but I think it'll eventually take up the entire I-4 corridor from Tampa/St. Peterberg to Daytona.

I think you're really jumping the gun with the use of a term like Mega-City for cities of 5 million people. It's a silly superlative to use for places like Miami or Dallas. If Atlanta is a Mega-City, what's New York? An Ultra-Mega-City? What's Tokyo? A Super-Colossal-Ultra-Mega-City?

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"Architecture is the art of how to waste space." - Philip Johnson

I think you're really jumping the gun with the use of a term like Mega-City for cities of 5 million people. It's a silly superlative to use for places like Miami or Dallas. If Atlanta is a Mega-City, what's New York? An Ultra-Mega-City? What's Tokyo? A Super-Colossal-Ultra-Mega-City?

It's all a matter of perspective. Yes, I know Atlanta is not a Mega city compared to NYC..... But if you limited this list to just the metros over 15 million in the US you wouldn't have much of a list...just NYC and LA.

I see a clear difference between the Nashville's, and St. Louis's of the world and Atlanta/Dallas etc. That's what I'm trying to get at. Whatever you want to call it, mega city or not.

rds70 made a good point about Denver. Probably by 2020 Denver could join this list. Phoenix, with or without Tucson, should be over 5 million by 2015.

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Syracuse, New York - Nestled between the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes.
CSA ~ 735,000
MSA ~ 650,000

It's all a matter of perspective. Yes, I know Atlanta is not a Mega city compared to NYC..... But if you limited this list to just the metros over 15 million in the US you wouldn't have much of a list...just NYC and LA...

Yes, it is a matter of perspective as you say. So therefore I think NYC and LA really are the only two mega-cities in the US. There is a huge gap from there. And so you are right, that isn't much of a list. I don't care if you want to arbitrarily make a 5-million cutoff. That's certainly OK. I just think that it's really a stretch to call those towns Mega-cities.

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"Architecture is the art of how to waste space." - Philip Johnson

Yes, it is a matter of perspective as you say. So therefore I think NYC and LA really are the only two mega-cities in the US. There is a huge gap from there. And so you are right, that isn't much of a list. I don't care if you want to arbitrarily make a 5-million cutoff. That's certainly OK. I just think that it's really a stretch to call those towns Mega-cities.

Yes, it is a matter of perspective as you say. So therefore I think NYC and LA really are the only two mega-cities in the US. There is a huge gap from there. And so you are right, that isn't much of a list. I don't care if you want to arbitrarily make a 5-million cutoff. That's certainly OK. I just think that it's really a stretch to call those towns Mega-cities.

I totally agree-NY and LA are really the only 2 megacities in the US. It doesnt mean that no other cities are significant economically or culturally, but as far as size, these 2 are in a different class.

__________________"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."-Robert Frost

I think that the future "sun strip" (Phoenix/Tucson/Prescott) has a great chance of eventually being up on the list with NYC, LA, and Chitown. Phoenix and Las Vegas are 2 of the fastest growing big cities in the US and could collide in the distant future. There is development planned for the NE part of Arizona near the Grand Canyon that will be up against Laughlin and LV's southern suburbs. The Phoenix "blob" is moving NE to Prescott and if it continues, it could get as far as the Nevada/Arizona border and create a supercity.

There is no way that's going to happen, not in any of our lifetimes, for very good reason, one of the main ones being simple topography. This is not even to mention that Las Vegas and LA are more connected than Phoenix and Vegas ever will be.

I think that the future "sun strip" (Phoenix/Tucson/Prescott) has a great chance of eventually being up on the list with NYC, LA, and Chitown. Phoenix and Las Vegas are 2 of the fastest growing big cities in the US and could collide in the distant future. There is development planned for the NE part of Arizona near the Grand Canyon that will be up against Laughlin and LV's southern suburbs. The Phoenix "blob" is moving NE to Prescott and if it continues, it could get as far as the Nevada/Arizona border and create a supercity.

Wishful, wishful thinking.

There's a better chance that Dallas and Houston will grow into one megacity, or Atlanta and Charlotte, or even Detroit and Toronto. All of those cities are closer to one another than Phoenix and Las Vegas.

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"Architecture is the art of how to waste space." - Philip Johnson

Just for fun, I took the county density map from the 2006 numbers and tried to determine what the sprawling US "Megacities" might look like in the intermediate future...say 2100.

I have circled areas that seem to stand out as continuous tracts of densely populated cities and towns throughout the United States. What I came up with were a total of 8 possible "Mega Cities" or Megalopolis' around different parts of the country. Today there are 2 certifiable Megalopolis' in the US...those being SF - San Diego and Boston - DC. The other 6 in my list are developing Megalopolis'.

All of the other cities seem to be in areas where they dominate the area and don't really run into other cities. See Minneapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Kansas City. Anyway, I thought I would throw this out for discussion.